Dutch Gold Coast

Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea (in Dutch)
1612–1872
Flag Coat of arms
Fort Elmina (1637–1872)
Common languages	Dutch
Religion	Dutch Reformed
Governor
• 1624–1638	Adriaan Jacobs
• 1656–1659	Jan Valckenburgh
• 1764–1767	Jan Pieter Theodoor Huydecoper
• 1816–1818	Herman Willem Daendels
• 1869–1871	Cornelis Nagtglas
History
• Established	1612
• Disestablished	6 April 1872
Preceded by Succeeded by Portuguese Gold Coast Brandenburger Gold Coast Swedish Gold Coast Ashanti Empire Gold Coast (British colony)
Today part of	Ghana

Gold Coast
Bonos (Bono state) Fantes (Mankessim Kingdom) Ashantis (Ashanti Empire ) Dagombas (Kingdom of Dagbon) Danes (Danish Gold Coast) Dutch (Dutch Gold Coast) English-British (British Gold Coast) Ewes (British Togoland) Prussian Gold Coast ) Portuguese (Portuguese Gold Coast) Swedes (Swedish Gold Coast) Ghanaians (Ghana )
v t e

The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in contemporary

The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast, known as Portuguese Gold Coast, remained secure for over a century. During that time, Lisbon sought to monopolize all trade in the region in royal hands, though appointed officials at São Jorge, and used force to prevent English, French and Dutch efforts to trade on the coast. After Barent Eriksz successfully sailed to the Gold Coast in 1591, Dutch merchants began trading in the area. Pieter de Marees's publications greatly increased the interest of merchants in the region.^[3]

The

The

Whereas Swedish presence on the Gold Coast turned out to be only temporary, British and Danish settlement in the area proved to be permanent. From 1694 until 1700, the Dutch West India Company fought the Komenda Wars with the British over trade rights with the Eguafo Kingdom. In addition, Brandenburgers also had forts in the area from 1682 onwards, until they were bought out by the Dutch in 1717. The Portuguese had completely left the area, but still the Gold Coast had the highest concentration of European military architecture outside of Europe.

Relationship with local peoples

The European powers were sometimes drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local political authorities. These alliances, often complicated, involved both Europeans attempting to enlist or persuade their closest allies to attack rival European ports and their African allies, or conversely, various African powers seeking to recruit Europeans as mercenaries in their inter-state wars, or as diplomats to resolve conflicts. Another way conflicts with the local inhabitants was avoided was through marriage. European men often created alliances with the local African people through a practice known as cassare or calisare derived from the Portuguese casar meaning "to marry." Dutch men and other Europeans would marry African women whose families had ties to the Atlantic slave trade. In this way, Europeans benefited from those marriages by corrupting African individuals in order to maintain the alliances responsible for massive, racial-based enslavement, which fabricated European wealth as much as fabricated African systemic empoverishment (underdevelopment). In essence, African individuals profited at the expense of enslavement and empoverishment of African peoples, while European individuals profited as means of consolidating wealth for European peoples. ^{[4][page needed]} African wives could receive money and schooling for the children they bore by European men. Wives could also inherit slaves and property from their husbands when they returned to Europe or died.^[5]

Many coastal ethnic groups in Africa, such as the Ga and Fante, used this system to gain economic and political advantages. These African ethnic groups had been using this practice before the arrival of the Europeans with strangers of a different ethnicity, and extended the same privilege to European men by the late 1400s. Cassare enabled Africans to trust strangers, like the Europeans, when dealing within their trade networks. It made the transition between stranger and trade partner a lot smoother.^[6]

At Elmina, the Dutch had inherited from the Portuguese a system in which tribute was paid to the Denkyira, who were the dominant power in the region. After the Battle of Feyiase (1701), the Ashanti Empire replaced the Denkyira as the dominant power, and the Dutch began paying tribute to the Ashanti instead. Although the existence of the so-called "Elmina Note" is often questioned, the Dutch generally paid two ounces of gold per month to the Ashanti as tribute.^[7] This bond between the Dutch and the Ashanti, who through the port of Elmina had access to trade with the Dutch and the rest of the world, deeply affected the relations between the Dutch, the other local peoples and the British. The latter were increasingly tight with the Fante, to which the Denkyira and thus also Elmina were culturally and linguistically close. Several Ashanti-Fante wars followed and the rivalry between the two peoples were key in the events surrounding the transfer of the Dutch Gold Coast to Britain in 1872.

After the Dutch managed to dislodge the Swedes from Butre and began building

In 1791, the Dutch West India Company was disestablished, and on 1 January 1792, all territories held by the company reverted to the rule of the

Daendels tried to redevelop the rather dilapidated Dutch possessions as an African plantation colony driven by legitimate trade. Drawing on his experience in building the Great Post Road on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies, he came up with some very ambitious infrastructural projects, including a comprehensive road system, with a main road connecting Elmina and Kumasi in Ashanti. The Dutch government gave him a free hand and a substantial budget to implement his plans. At the same time, however, Daendels regarded his governorship as an opportunity to establish a private business monopoly in the Dutch Gold Coast.

Eventually none of the plans came to fruition, as Daendels died of malaria in the castle of St. George d'Elmina, the Dutch seat of government, on 8 May 1818. His body was interred in the central tomb at the Dutch cemetery in Elmina town. He had been in the country less than for two years.

Recruitment of soldiers for the Dutch East Indies Army

In the remainder of the 19th century, the Dutch Gold Coast slowly fell into disarray. The only substantial development during this period was the recruitment of soldiers for the

Whereas the Dutch forts were a colonial backwater in the 19th century, the British forts were slowly developed into a full colony, especially after Britain took over the Danish Gold Coast in 1850. The presence of Dutch forts in an area that became increasingly influenced by the United Kingdom was deemed undesirable, and in the late 1850s British began pressing for either a buyout of the Dutch forts, or a trade of forts so as to produce more coherent areas of influence.

In the Dutch political landscape of the time, a buyout was not a possibility, so a trade of forts was negotiated. In 1867, the Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands for an Interchange of Territory on the Gold Coast of Africa was signed, in which all Dutch forts to the east of Elmina were handed over to Britain, while the British forts west of Elmina were handed over to the Netherlands.^[9]

The trade proved a disaster for the Dutch, as their long-standing alliance with the mighty inland

The blockade of the town by the confederacy was not lifted, however, and trade between Elmina and the Ashanti dropped to an absolute minimum. Attempts were made to persuade Elmina to join the confederacy, to no avail. Elmina and the Dutch sent a request for help to the king of Ashanti, whose army, under the leadership of Atjempon, arrived in Elmina on 27 December 1869. Unsurprisingly, the Ashanti army had an uncompromising attitude to their Fante rivals, making the prospect of a compromise between the Ashanti-backed Elminese and the new Fante-dominated forts transferred to the Dutch ever more difficult.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the ongoing conflicts made the call for the transfer of the entire colony to Britain to become ever louder. The Dutch governor of Elmina,

As was to be expected, the Ashanti were less pleased by the handover of Elmina to the Fante-allied British. Ashanti king

Administration

Dutch West India Company

During the reign of the Dutch West India Company, the government of the colony was headed by a

With the establishment of the Second Dutch West India Company in 1675, the government structure was revised. The area under the authority of the Director-General was redefined as "the Coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone all exclusively to 30 degrees South of the equator, together with all the islands in between," thereby nominally reinstating the claim on the territories lost in this area to the Portuguese.^[14] The title of the Director-General was concurrently changed to "Director-General of the North and South Coast of Africa." This larger claim was not primarily meant to reclaim Luanda and Sao Tomé from the Portuguese, however, but merely to establish authority over Dutch trade in the area. This was especially relevant for Loango, from which the Dutch began buying slaves in large amounts from the 1670s onward. Until the liquidation of the Dutch West India Company in 1791, the title of the Director-General and the limits of jurisdiction remained the same.^[15]

Composition of the Council

According to the 1722 government instruction, the Council comprised the Director-General, who functioned as the council's president, the fiscal (Dutch: fiscaal), the senior merchant (Dutch: opperkoopman), and the senior commissioners (Dutch: oppercommies). These senior commissioners consisted of the head of

In the late 1850s, the administrative divisions into forts was changed into a division into districts (Dutch: afdelingen), asserting Dutch sovereignty (or suzerainty) over not only the forts, but also the territory surrounding the forts.^[23] District officers were instructed to make surveys of physical, economic, and socio-political situation of the districts.^[23] As a consequence of the tariff system set up in the Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty, a tax and customs office was established in Elmina in 1867. At the same time, a postal office was established as well.^[22]

Economy

Although the colony is nowadays primarily associated with

Meanwhile, the Dutch had tried in 1654 to directly control the mining of gold by building Fort Ruychaver far inland on the Ankobra River, but had left gold production to the locals since that fort was attacked and burned to the ground in 1660. The supply of gold declined dramatically at the turn of the eighteenth century, due to warfare among the states of the Gold Coast. While the Ashanti succeeded in the Battle of Feyiase of 1701 to establish their hegemony on the Gold Coast, it took them a few years to fully "pacify" their newly conquered territory.^[29] 1701 proved to be the historic low for the gold trade, with only 530 mark of gold exported, worth 178.080 guilders.^[29]

Whereas the supply of gold was declining, the supply of slaves boomed as never before. This was to a large part due to the Ashanti wars; Governor-General Willem de la Palma wrote to his superiors at the Dutch West India Company that the war had unleashed

Apart from increased supply of slaves, the demand also increased due to the asiento trading with the Spanish. Between 1660 and 1690, the Dutch trading posts in Africa, which included the Slave Coast, Arguin, and Senegambia, shipped a third of the total number of slaves across the Atlantic.^[27] On the Gold Coast, Governor De la Palma actively tried to systemize the slave trade and improve the numbers of slave shipped to the Americas. To this purpose, he sent Jacob van den Broucke as "opperkommies" (head merchant) to the Dutch trading post at Ouidah, on the Slave Coast.^[30]

De la Palma was a difficult personality and often at odds with his merchants and local African leaders. He resigned from his position in September 1705, but died before he could return to the Dutch Republic.^[30] He was replaced by his deputy, Pieter Nuyts, who tried to revive the gold trade at the coast.^[31]

But by the beginning of the eighteenth century, even slave trade dwindled, with the Dutch becoming a rather small player in the trans-Atlantic trade. Since globally this trade peaked in the 18th century, this meant that the Dutch contribution to the Atlantic slave trade only amounts to 5% of the grand total, equalling around 500,000 slaves shipped from Africa to the Americas.^[27]

In 1730, the monopoly of the Dutch West India Company on the Atlantic slave trade was lifted. This contributed to the rise of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC), which dominated the Dutch slave trade for much of the eighteenth century.

The Gold Coast economy in the 19th century

With the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, the Dutch vowed to stop trading slaves. This meant a severe blow to the economy of the Gold Coast, which had increasingly relied on slave trade from the 18th century onwards. Attempts were made to establish a plantation colony and to open gold mines on the coast, but virtually all attempts proved failures.^[32]

One of the first attempts at establishing a plantation was made by the sons of Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels in 1816. They established a plantation named Oranje Dageraad in Simbo. The Governor-General himself tried to buy 300 slaves from Kumasi, which were to regain their freedom by cultivating farmland. Both projects failed.^[33][34]

Between 1845 and 1850, the colonial government once again, after the failure of Fort Ruychaver, tried to establish a gold mine on the coast. The Dutch government bought an open-air gold mine from the chief of Butre, and sent in 1845 an expedition of a director, three engineers, and nine workers to the village of Dabokrom to establish a mine.^[35][36] Two engineers and all nine workers fell victim to tropical diseases and died, leaving the rest of the expedition to return to Europe.^[35] The second expedition of 1847 was not less successful, now with 11 out of 13 people dying. By 1850, the Dutch government ended the mining attempt.^[37][36]

Another attempt to develop the colony involved the establishment of a

Until the destruction of Elmina in 1873, the town was the largest settlement on the Gold Coast, eclipsing Accra and Kumasi. In the 18th century, its population numbered 12,000 to 16,000 inhabitants, and in the 19th century, this figure rose to between 18,000 and 20,000.^[43][44] Most of these inhabitants were not European, however; their number peaked at 377 Dutch West India Company employees for the entire Dutch Gold Coast in the 18th century, before sinking back to a mere 20 officers in the 19th century.^[45]

Much more important were the African inhabitants of Elmina, who came from every region of the Gold Coast to Elmina to try their luck.^[46] Slaves formed a considerable portion of the population of Elmina as well, and were often in the possession of the Akan people inhabitants themselves. The third group in Elmina was of mixed race, and the result of interracial relations between Dutch West India Company employees and African women in Elmina. The illegitimate children of the employees were called "Tapoeijers" by the Dutch, for, according to them, the colour of their skin resembled those of native Americans. A decree from 1700 by the Governor-General at Elmina stipulated that employees of the Dutch West India Company who were to return to the Netherlands either had to take their (illegitimate) children with them, or had to pay a sum of money to provide for their "Christian upbringing".^[47][48] For the latter purpose, a school was established in Elmina.^[49]

Many people of mixed descent, also referred to as Euro-Africans, became wealthy merchants. The most prominent of these was Jan Niezer, who visited Europe on several occasions, and who traded directly with European and American companies.

The fourth group in Elmina was also of mixed descent, but had a different status as "Vrijburghers" (free citizens). They had the same rights as Europeans, and were organized in a separate in so-called

. This part of Elmina, also known as "the Garden" was spared from British bombardment in 1873.

Wilhelm Amo and Jacobus Capitein

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The presence of European powers on the Gold Coast opened up the area to the outside world, and some Africans from the Gold Coast achieved a modicum of accomplishment in European society. Two Africans from the Gold Coast are especially notable in this regard, although one of them is notorious for defending slavery as compatible with Christianity.

Around 1717,

Remnants of Dutch presence in the Gold Coast, other than the forts along the coastline, are Dutch surnames which were taken on by the descendants of the children the Dutch slave traders had with their black mistresses. Bossman is a common surname in Ghana, and ultimately derives from the Dutch slave trader Willem Bosman.^[53] Other Ghanaian surnames derived from Dutch names include Bartels, Van Dyck, and De Veer.^[54] In an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, British-Ghanaian actor Hugh Quarshie traced his ancestry to Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, a Dutch official on the Gold Coast.

Settlements

Main forts

Map of the main forts of the Dutch Gold Coast

Nassau

Elmina

S. Sebastian

St. Antonio

Crèvecoeur

Batenstein

Amsterdam

Goede Hoop

Orange

Witsen

Dorothea

Vreden- burgh

Lijdzaamheid

Hollandia

class=notpageimage|

Map of the main forts of the Dutch Gold Coast

Trade of forts with Britain

In 1868, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands traded some forts in order to create more geographically contiguous areas of influence.^[9] The Netherlands ceded Fort Nassau, Fort Crêvecoeur, Fort Amsterdam, Fort Goede Hoop, and Fort Lijdzaamheid, and in return received Apollonia (renamed Fort Willem III), Fort Dixcove (renamed Fort Metalen Kruis), Fort Komenda (not to be confused with the already Dutch Fort Vredenburgh, also in Komenda), and Fort Sekondi (not to be confused with the already Dutch Fort Orange, also in Sekondi). This arrangement proved short-lived, as the colony was completely ceded to the United Kingdom in 1872.

Temporarily held forts

Apart from the main forts held for more than a century, other forts in the region have been temporarily occupied by the Dutch:

See also

• Colonial Heads of Dutch Gold Coast
• History of Ghana
• Dutch Loango-Angola
• Ministry of the Colonies (Netherlands)

Notes

• ^Note 1 Note that this office is quite different from the office of Director-General in the administration of the Dutch West India Company, the company's equivalent to this office being the bookkeeper-general.

Citations

References

• DeCorse, Christopher R. (2001). An archeology of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400–1900. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  ISBN 9781560989714
  .
• Doortmont, Michel R.; Smit, Jinna (2007). Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands. An annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593-1960s. Leiden: Brill.
  ISBN 978-90-04-15850-4
  .
• Feinberg, H.M. (1976). "There Was an Elmina Note, But...". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 9 (4): 618–630.
  JSTOR 217016
  .
• Feinberg, H.M. (1989). Africans and Europeans in West Africa: Elminans and Dutchmen on the Gold Coast During the Eighteenth Century. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
  ISBN 9780871697974
  .
• Postma, Johannes M. (1990). The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 0-521-36585-6
  .
• Van Dantzig, Albert (1999). Forts and Castles of Ghana. Accra: Sedco Publishing.
  ISBN 9964-72-010-6
  .
• Yarak, Larry W. (1986). "The "Elmina Note:" Myth and Reality in Asante-Dutch Relations". History in Africa. 13 (1): 363–382.
  S2CID 161210537
  .
• Yarak, Larry W. (2003). "A West African Cosmopolis: Elmina (Ghana) in the Nineteenth Century". Seascapes, Littoral Cultures, and Trans-Oceanic Exchanges. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2012.

In Dutch

• Adhin, J. H. (1961). "De immigratie van Hindostanen en de afstand van de Goudkust". Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 41 (1): 4–13.
  doi:10.1163/22134360-90002334
  .
• Delepeleire, Y. (2004). Nederlands Elmina: een socio-economische analyse van de Tweede Westindische Compagnie in West-Afrika in 1715. Gent: Universiteit Gent.
• Gramberg, J.S.G. (1868). "De Goudkust". De Gids. 32: 383–407.
• Nagtglas, Cornelis Johannes Marius (1863). Een woord aangaande de vraag: "Wat moet Nederland doen met zijne bezittingen ter kuste van Guinea?". The Hague: H.C. Susan, C.Hz.
• Van der Meer, Dirk (1990). De goudkust na de slavenhandel: Plannen om de Nederlandse Bezittingen ter kuste van Guinea rendabel te maken. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht.
• Van Kessel, Ineke (2001). "Driehonderd jaar Nederlands-Ghanese handelsbetrekkingen". Historisch Nieuwsblad. 2001 (4).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dutch Gold Coast.

• WorldStatesmen - Ghana - Dutch Gold Coast
• Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana